MERMAIDS OF SCOTLAND

Evening Star, Issue 19003, 27 July 1925, Page 8

MERMAIDS OF SCOTLAND

[By W. G. Aitcuison’ Roiieiitsox, in tho ‘Weekly Scotsman.’]

The folk-lore tales of almost every European country which borders on the sea largely relate to sea maidens. They were able to exercise supernatural powers; they could alter the course of human destiny; they could either induce storms at sea or quell the fury of tempests. They frequently exerted these powers in favor of or against those who were afloat on their domains. That they belong rather to the nether than to tbo upper world is shown by their tendency to work against what was good. By nature they were of a tierce and savage character, but when they assumed th© form of human beings they became much milder, and even gentle. The Mermaid of Corrivrcckiu warned her lovers not to approach her when sin; assumed her tish-like tail, as she. was then unaccountable for her actions. in the comity of l-mtherlaud there is a branch of the Mackays known as " descendants of the seal. 1 ' They claim as an ancestor a Laird of IWsio, who married a mermaid. Olio day while lip was bathing in the sea lie perceived a mermaid who was swimming about close to the shore, and making as if to land. She was engaged in an occupation whirh seems to be more or less constant .with mermaidens —combing tier hair. Doubtless she wished to regain possession of her cowl, which tho laird noticed was lying on the rocks close by him. lie knew that she could not go to sea without her head-diess, so ha seized it, and took it to the rustic. The poor mermaid followed in order to regain possession of her cowl, but (he laird refused to let her go, and desired her to bo his wife. ith reluctance she consented, tolling him at the same time that if her cowl were lost or destroyed she would insiJnllv die.

For safety, therefore tho wonderful cowl was secreted in the middle of a haystack, and there it remained for several years. One day, however, the farm servants, while working on the slack, discovered the head-dress, and took it to their mistress. She grasped hold of it, and its influence upon her was so strong that she was compelled to resume her sea life again. For years afterwards she was in the habit of coming close to the shore so that she might catcli a glimpse of her son, and would■ lament and weep that ho was not of her own kind. She conferred cm him safety from death by drowning, and this gift has bum handed (town irem father to son ever since. THE THREE WISHES.

Hugh Miller, in his ‘Scenes and Legends of the Western Highlands,’ writes in 1869 aboulj a certain John Held, a shipmaster in Cromarty, about thirty years of ago, who had as sweetheart a girl called Helen. One day, in (ho year 1750, while walking along the seashore, ho espied a mermaid, ami heard her singing. Knowing the power such creatures could exert over him, he bethought him that he should enlist her services so as to win the hand of Helen. Stealthily approaching, he was able to catch (lie - mermaid round tlie waist. She almost overcame him in the struggle, but at, last tie was aide to bear her down, when she became tranquil, lieid had never beheld any female form so beautiful.

“Man what would with me';" she said in accents which made his blood rim cold, “ Wishes three,” lie replied. " First, that neither ho nor any of his friends should die by drowning; second, that ho should be fortunate in his nndeitakings: and. lastly, and chiefly, the love of Helen.” The laconic answer she gave was “ Quit and have," and vanished in the wave.-:. He met Helen later, and related to her ins adventure. They were married soon afterwards, and fortune followed him and .his descendants. TRAGEDY OF LOCH SHIN.

There is also the tragedy of Loch Shin to be related. One day in the late autumn of 1742 a young girl returning homo noticed with astonishment a tall woman standing in the water and knocking clothes on a stone, and doing this on iho Sabbath’Day. The woman used a heavy wooden stick for this purpose—a method in common use in the north at this time. The girl knew that this must be the mermaid of Loch Shin, and she saw that the mermaid seemed to have an evil pleasure in her work. On the green adjoining there were spread out to dry over thirty

smocks and shirts, all horribly smeared with blood. The goor girl, in a terrible fright, rushed home and fell insensible on the floor.

Later cm she and her mother (who was weak in mind) went out for a walk. Suddenly they heard .a lour crash, and this was immediately followed by cries of anguish. They saw that the roof of the old abbey had fallen and had buried the whole congregation. Whey they got near enough they found that almost the whole of the roof had collapsed and overwhelmed half of the congregation. Thirty-six persons were killed on the spot, and many others were .so injured that they never recovered. It was only on returning homo that the girl connected the catastrophe with the mysterious washerwoman. The shock, however, restored the mother’s mind.

Tim people of Cromarty were well acquainted with mermaids, and so late, as 1840 one was seen by moonlight silting on a. stone in tho sea to tho east of the town. At Hie beginning of that century scarcely a winter passed when mermaids were not heard singing or seen braiding their long yellow tresses among the rocks. OX THE CAITHNESS COAST. In a rare pamphlet published in London in 1809 we find a description of the sea maiden. It is entitled ‘Wonders of the Deep ; The mermaid not fabulous, being a disscrtnlinn on (he existence, figure, character, and habits of that phenomenon, unquestionably proved by Hie mermaids recently seen on the. Caithness coast by Miss Mackay, Miss Mackenzie, Air Mnnro, and others . . . with the natural history of the mermaid/ price sixpence. Miss Mackay was tho daughter of tint parish minister of lleay, in Caithness, and she, along with her cousin. Miss Mackenzie, as well as two other women and a. boy, on the January 12, 1809, observed for an hour on end, and at a distance ot a- few yards, a mermaid swimming in Sandside Bay.

I kOss Mackay says fliat slip and her cousin liatl always disbelieved the general opinion that mermaids .were often seen along 11 to coast. She was now convinced, however, and proceeds to give a description of the creature, which, unfortunately, she was not able to see below the waist. The face was small, hut round and plump, the eyes of a light grey .color; the whole of the side of the face was of a bright pink color; the hair—thick and long—-troubled the owner so much that siie had constantly to throw it back out of her eyes. The arms wore very long and slender, ns were also the hands and fingers, which were not webbed. There were no scales or hair on any other part of the body, and the skin was remarkably smooth. A THURSO MKK.MAIU.

William Minim was the schoolma.-.l' ' Ilcay, and lie states, in a letter adihv," ! to Dr Torrence, <>l Thurso, that when ho was walking on a lino .summer day ho saw a mermaid seated cm a ruck proudly e-nubiug its long, light hrown thick hair. He also had previously been a disbeliever in the existence of mermaids. The resemblance lo a human being was so strong that had it not been that it was impossible for a bather lo have readied tho rod,-, lie .should have concluded at once that it was a woman bathing. The-face was plump and the cheeks ruddy, the eyes blue, and the fingers did not appear to bo webbed. I The author of the pamphlet is satisfied ! that mermaids form merely a variety of (he human race, sprung from our first parents, hut Ilia:, they have from time immemorial emigrated io the ocean, and thus, in changing their dement, they have almost entirely changed their habits , and character.

In a sworn statement made on October 2, 1809, bv Neil -MTntosh, of Sandy Island, 'Calii 1.1, it is reported that many persons on the island had seen .mermaids, and instances arc narrated of their appearing to sailors. An old Irish woman fold the late T)r N T nrman Moore (who related it in 18821 that she had often seen in the market, of Mullingar children who were the offspring of a mermaid.

If the question as to tho existence of fairies has been put out of doubt by the, testimony of those who have had speech with them, as wdl as by tne still-more-convincing proof of actual photographs of those delightful little folks., why should we hesitate to accept'the evidence of such tmistworthy observers as I have noted, who have not only seen, hut conversed and lived with our tinny relatives *wiio dwell in the sea’